1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer graphics and video imagery. Particularly, this invention relates to satellite imagery and computer software used for viewing 3-dimensional objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
Satellite imagery is widely used for military, industrial, commercial and consumer applications. In such applications, satellite images provide a bi-level point-of-view to view geographical image data. Some companies are making satellite imagery available for viewing by consumers using a searchable database. One such company is Google. Google makes satellite images available using Google Earth™. With Google Earth, a user can type in a street address in one of several cities around the world and view satellite imagery of the selected location. See www.googleearth.com.
The view provided by Google Earth allows the user to zoom in on the location up to a maximum degree of magnification of the image. Unfortunately, inasmuch as there is no further magnification available of that image, the functionality of Google Earth is limited. For example, the limited magnification of the satellite image prevents one from seeing objects at street level.
Further, satellite images are not 3-dimensional. Consequently, it is not generally possible to navigate in an image provided by conventional satellite imaging systems. For certain applications, such navigation functionality may be desirable.
Finally, satellite images are generally static, not dynamic. And these images do not go forward or otherwise allow for cooperation between two or more users in a selected area or region of interest.
Hence, a need exists in the art for a system or method for combining satellite-generated images with computer generated images to allow for navigation and or communication in photo-realistic environments.